To future residents and business owners, developers of New Port Tampa Bay say: Welcome to paradise. To neighbors, they say: Trust us.
By SHERRI DAY
Published July 15, 2005
SUN BAY SOUTH - It takes vision to see what developer Ed Oelschlaeger sees. Where the casual observer notices a shipyard littered with scrap metal, dilapidated buildings, wastewater drums and old commercial dredgers, Oelschlaeger envisions a marina club, community park and upscale retail center.
To the naked eye, aging boat slips hug the marina at the Imperial Yacht Basin. But Oelschlaeger looks past the present to a state-of-the-art 250-slip marina with a new seawall, an esplanade and boardwalk.
Oelschlaeger's is a dream of New Port Tampa Bay, a 53-acre residential and commercial development roughly bounded by Gandy Boulevard, Tyson Avenue, West Shore Boulevard and Old Tampa Bay. He has spent eight months trying to get community groups, residents and business groups to catch on.
"It's an urban waterfront concept," said Oelschlaeger, president of EcoGroup, a South Tampa development company. "This is the kind of development that the city wants and needs to prevent the urban sprawl that has already taken place ... Tampa's time has come."
He is nothing if not a believer in his plans. Oelschlaeger bought the Imperial Yacht Basin from St. Petersburg developer Grady Pridgen for $54-million in May. Two months earlier, he closed on the old Moody and Hendry shipyards, both of which abut the Imperial property. With the three parcels, Oelschlaeger vows to create a community that would be an impressive gateway to South Tampa, erasing years of industrial use that rendered the waterfront unavailable to the public.
His development plans have faced challenges from residents in surrounding communities. The homeowners welcome change in the underdeveloped area, but they have pledged to fight for infrastructure improvements and inclusion at every turn.
"Our problem is not really with EcoGroup," said Gandy Civic Association board chairman Al Steenson. "We can't stop the development, but we need to get some assurance from the city that they will do something about the failing infrastructure."
The group has not yet taken a position on the developer's latest rezoning request before the City Council. Oelschlaeger will ask the council Thursday to change the zoning on the Hendry property from commercial industrial to mixed use that would accommodate 1,000 residential units, retail and office space.
Regardless of the council's decision, it is clear the neighborhood is changing. With the introduction of Oelschlaeger's New Port Tampa Bay, the Westshore Yacht Club and other large developments in the area, which has been a largely blue-collar and industrial area, the neighborhood is undergoing a makeover. Restaurants, boutiques and living quarters will replace shipyards, factories and underdeveloped land.
"We have used our water for economic gain rather than for residential purposes for the most part," said Rodney Kite-Powell, a curator at the Tampa Bay History Center. "People want to live on the water. It's part of the Florida dream. Now that those industries are making less money than the land is worth, it's going to happen."
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The developers plan 1,750 townhomes, condos and loftlike apartments in a community with a nautical theme, if the City Council approves the rezoning request.
Oelschlaeger and his design team are betting that the community's public features will draw residents from around the bay area. A retail center with cafes and boutiques would be in the center of the development. Two waterfront restaurants, a community park, and a 40,000-square-foot marina club could also draw crowds.
Plans also call for office buildings at major intersections. In all, the development would have 245,000 square feet of commercial space, EcoGroup said. For nature lovers, the developers intend to bring the Friendship Trail through the community along Bridge Street. To improve traffic flow, they would widen Bridge Street, the community's major thoroughfare, from 50 feet to 67 feet, said Donald K. Gunn, EcoGroup's executive vice president. Bridge Street would be extended to Tyson Avenue.
As in many planned communities, the developers plan to establish a community development district. They said the designation would help to fund the continuous installation of infrastructure, including a new sewer and water system, underground utilities, public parking and large sidewalks. It would be perhaps one of the first community development districts south of Gandy Boulevard, local business leaders said. And unlike some luxury communities, New Port Tampa Bay would not be gated.
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Oelschlaeger and his team of engineering, transportation and building experts made its latest pitch to the Gandy Civic Association on Monday night. The company has been meeting with group members for months, intent on hearing the neighborhood's concerns.
For nearly two hours Monday, residents from Sun Bay South, Port Tampa and Manhattan Manor/Fairoaks peppered the team with questions about plans for the neighborhood.
What would EcoGroup do about traffic?
If warranted, consultants said they would install traffic lights at busy intersections.
Stormwater?
EcoGroup said it would build a retention pond and would route the stormwater directly to Tampa Bay.
Prices for units have not been set but will likely range from $350,000 to $2-million, EcoGroup said. They expect 75 percent of buyers to come from Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. The other 25 percent are likely to be purchasers of second homes.
Mostly, community members wanted to know details about the project, ranging from the number of units to the kind of plants that would surround a brackish pond.
EcoGroup representatives said they could not provide such specifics this early in the design and approval process. Oelschlaeger asked residents to trust him. After all, he said, his company spent $74-million to acquire the three parcels and does not intend to give the development short shrift.
But in the neighborhoods south of Gandy, trust is in short supply.
"We're supportive of Gandy because we've already been down this road several times," said Jill Buford, president of the Civic Association of Port Tampa. "We've watched developers say one thing and do another. It's sad. We're very skeptical of the project, and it is because of past projects."
Oelschlaeger left the meeting frustrated. But he and his business partners said they understood why the neighborhood questioned them so vigorously.
"We do realize that this is a major property on the gateway to South Tampa," said Gunn, the EcoGroup vice president. "We don't take it lightly. You only get an opportunity to do this once, and it better work."
Ultimately, Oelschlaeger said he thought the meeting went well. After all, members of the Gandy Civic Association viciously fought Pridgen's initial plans until they wrested concessions from the developer.
EcoGroup urged the group to join forces and work to make sure the $232-million in ad valorem taxes the city receives from the project will be spent on improvements in the area.
The developers got support Monday night from Marilyn Durst, a Manhattan Manor/Fairoaks resident who is also president of the citywide Neighborhood Crime Watch Association. Durst said the development also affected homeowners north of Gandy.
"It's the first time that these neighborhoods have had a shot at revitalization," Durst said. "I'm really hanging a lot of hope on this. I'm afraid to let this get away."
The South Tampa Chamber of Commerce also wrote the council in support of EcoGroup's rezoning application for the Hendry property.
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If all goes according to plan, the New Port Tampa Bay site will soon be teeming with activity.
EcoGroup plans to begin constructing its sales center at the end of the month and open it by October. Demolition of Jimmy Mac's restaurant could take place in August. Sometime in the fall, the boats at the Imperial Yacht basin will have to find a new home, Oelschlaeger said.
Infrastructure construction will likely begin soon, too, and will take 18 to 24 months to finish, developers said. They expect to complete the project in six to eight years.
It is an ambitious plan that could be hampered by community discontent, unfavorable council rulings or simply inclement weather. But Oelschlaeger remains committed to seeing his vision become a reality.
"Our company is on the line as far as doing what we say we're going to do," he said. "We're only as good as the last project we did. We're not saying trust us in the sense that we're going to solve all your problems. That's not possible. But we're going to do what we say we're going to do."
Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com[Last modified July 14, 2005, 09:06:06]
